Tropescilloscope: Character Development

A character changes over the course of a narrative. (read more at tvtropes.org)

Film Frequency (%) Film Frequency (#)

More Tropes Henpecked Husband Auto Erotica Unreliable Narrator Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Drives Like Crazy Not Using the "Z" Word Four-Temperament Ensemble Canadian Movies Call-Back Even Evil Has Standards Kill 'em All Same Language Dub Cold-Blooded Torture Shirtless Scene One Steve Limit Kubrick Stare I'm a Humanitarian Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Here We Go Again! Moment Killer Cool Old Guy Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Children Are Innocent Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Male Frontal Nudity Dutch Angle Didn't Think This Through Totally Radical Bloodier and Gorier Retired Badass Reasonable Authority Figure The Hero Police are Useless Screw the Rules, I Have Money! You Killed My Father Gender Flip Throwing Your Sword Always Works And the Adventure Continues Real Life Grey and Gray Morality Large Ham Silence Is Golden Riddle for the Ages Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Jerk with a Heart of Gold The Big Guy Awesome, but Impractical Faking the Dead Foregone Conclusion Sadistic Choice Only in It for the Money Pretty in Mink Italian Films Exact Words Politically Incorrect Villain Berserk Button No Name Given Artistic License – Physics Abhorrent Admirer Creative Closing Credits Chekhov's Gunman Take a Third Option Death by Adaptation Aside Glance Pay Evil unto Evil Psychological Thriller Mystery and Detective Films Darker and Edgier Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Re-Cut The Alcoholic Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism May–December Romance Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Nothing Is Scarier All for Nothing Corpsing The Ace Novelization Kick the Dog Very Loosely Based on a True Story Market-Based Title The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Gilligan Cut The Oner Extremely Short Timespan Stock Footage The '80s Get Out! Left the Background Music On Cat Fight Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Award-Bait Song Broken Aesop Fake Shemp Big-Bad Ensemble N-Word Privileges Anti-Hero Made of Iron Author Appeal Reality Is Unrealistic Sinister Minister Deconstruction The End... Or Is It? Shipper on Deck Sanity Slippage The Stinger Ambiguous Ending Actor Allusion Authority Equals Asskicking Villain with Good Publicity Fantastic Racism Exactly What It Says on the Tin Sequel Escalation What the Hell, Hero? Guns Akimbo Break the Cutie Spanner in the Works Affably Evil Hair-Trigger Temper Cool Car Your Cheating Heart Whole Plot Reference Shut Up, Hannibal! Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Groin Attack Demoted to Extra Betty and Veronica Would Hurt a Child Hollywood Darkness The Cavalry An Axe to Grind Camera Abuse Wham Shot Broken Pedestal Dark Is Not Evil Crapsack World Film Series Calling the Old Man Out Even Evil Has Loved Ones No Celebrities Were Harmed Due to the Dead Older Than They Look How We Got Here The Great Depression Bittersweet Ending After the End Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Match Cut Random Events Plot Soft Glass Fire-Forged Friends Pretty Little Headshots Maybe Ever After Dwindling Party Names to Run Away from Really Fast Villain Ball Heterosexual Life-Partners Insane Troll Logic Artistic License – History Military and Warfare Films Stealth Hi/Bye Overly Long Gag The Hero Dies Death Seeker Serial Killer Hoist by His Own Petard Big Brother Instinct Asshole Victim Blood from the Mouth Badass Boast No Antagonist Cruel and Unusual Death Humiliation Conga Dirty Cop Only a Flesh Wound Works Set in World War II Eagleland Expy 20 Minutes into the Future Storming the Castle Big "NO!" Light Is Not Good A.I. Is a Crapshoot Nice Guy Based on a True Story Final Girl Famous Last Words The Lancer timeperiod The '70s Laser-Guided Karma Kids Are Cruel Empathic Environment Psycho for Hire Bavarian Fire Drill Hero Antagonist Green-Eyed Monster Wounded Gazelle Gambit Tempting Fate She Cleans Up Nicely Logo Joke I Have Your Wife Agony of the Feet Fainting Unusually Uninteresting Sight Took a Level in Badass Wrong Genre Savvy Dark Reprise Cool Guns My Beloved Smother Body Horror Really Gets Around Ax-Crazy Death by Irony Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Disney Villain Death Villain Song A God Am I Getting Crap Past the Radar Major Injury Underreaction Driven to Suicide Funny Foreigner Badass Bookworm Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Never Trust a Trailer Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! One-Man Army Smug Snake Tagline Off with His Head! Action Genre Dramedy Karma Houdini Disproportionate Retribution Stepford Smiler Adaptational Attractiveness The '50s Annoying Younger Sibling Facial Horror Brainless Beauty Paper-Thin Disguise Bolivian Army Ending Red Eyes, Take Warning Face–Heel Turn Karmic Death Heel–Face Turn Suspiciously Specific Denial Ungrateful Bastard Ghost Fiction Central Theme Bond Villain Stupidity Villain Opening Scene Fiery Redhead He Who Fights Monsters And I Must Scream Bunny-Ears Lawyer Dies Wide Open Off-into-the-Distance Ending Bar Brawl Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Happily Married folderlabel Brick Joke Beauty Is Never Tarnished Evil Is Petty Bland-Name Product Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Thriller Department of Redundancy Department Refuge in Audacity Freeze-Frame Bonus Coming-of-Age Story Bald of Evil Damsel in Distress Guile Hero Put on a Bus Evil Laugh Diabolus ex Machina You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Laughing Mad Irony Determinator Reckless Gun Usage Slap-Slap-Kiss All There in the Manual Bound and Gagged Badass Grandpa Fat Bastard Not So Above It All "Shaggy Dog" Story Mooks Drill Sergeant Nasty Deadpan Snarker Hypocrite Blackmail Shoot the Shaggy Dog Meaningful Echo No OSHA Compliance Rule of Three Taking You with Me What You Are in the Dark Japanese Films Mercy Kill Gory Discretion Shot In Name Only Slasher Smile You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! Evil Counterpart Adaptation Name Change Documentary Mexican Standoff Anti-Villain Knight Templar Intrepid Reporter La Résistance Plot Hole Amusing Injuries Scenery Porn One-Word Title Leaning on the Fourth Wall Only Known by Their Nickname Evil Is Hammy Mundane Made Awesome Be Careful What You Wish For Rule of Funny Instant Death Bullet Slasher Movie Ambiguous Disorder Shout-Out Star-Crossed Lovers Eye Scream Punny Name Real Life Writes the Plot Stuff Blowing Up Death of a Child Sci-Fi Horror In Medias Res A Minor Kidroduction Black Comedy Rape Drowning My Sorrows Composite Character "The Reason You Suck" Speech Alliterative Name As Himself Dramatic Gun Cock Defiant to the End From Nobody to Nightmare Adorkable More Dakka Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Noodle Incident Reality Has No Subtitles Neck Snap Heroic BSoD Interrupted Suicide Took a Level in Jerkass Cloudcuckoolander Dissonant Serenity It Will Never Catch On Bottomless Magazines Daylight Horror The Alleged Car Half the Man He Used to Be Badass Normal As the Good Book Says... It's Personal No Good Deed Goes Unpunished The Musical Foreshadowing Jerkass Black Dude Dies First The Power of Love World of Ham Blood Knight Plucky Comic Relief Hope Spot Meet Cute Ironic Echo Attempted Rape Worthy Opponent Cluster F-Bomb The Dreaded NO INDOOR VOICE Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! Deus ex Machina Our Zombies Are Different Fatal Family Photo Fate Worse than Death Australian Movies Back from the Dead Parental Abandonment Never My Fault Eyepatch of Power Dramatic Irony Product Placement Beta Couple Race Lift Affectionate Parody Bare Your Midriff The Smart Guy Deal with the Devil Deliberately Monochrome Every Car Is a Pinto Sealed Evil in a Can You Have Failed Me Almost Kiss Lock and Load Montage Russian Films MacGuffin Dirty Coward Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Ass Shove Ambiguously Gay Those Two Bad Guys There Is No Kill Like Overkill Playing Gertrude Pet the Dog Gainax Ending Apocalypse How Sexy Discretion Shot Fourth Date Marriage Dirty Old Man I Want My Beloved to Be Happy Fanservice All Men Are Perverts Manchild Disappeared Dad Downer Ending Never Found the Body Face Death with Dignity Say My Name Contrived Coincidence I Did What I Had to Do Reality Ensues Stalker with a Crush Parental Substitute Humans Are Bastards Wretched Hive Parental Neglect Men Are the Expendable Gender Skewed Priorities Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil Protagonist Title Improbable Weapon User Black and Gray Morality Mistaken for Gay Truth in Television Informed Ability The Chick Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Comically Missing the Point Sacrificial Lion Bad "Bad Acting" Smoking Is Cool Mood Whiplash BFG Anguished Declaration of Love Adaptation Dye-Job Chewing the Scenery Non-Indicative Name Red Oni, Blue Oni Abusive Parents Homage She's Got Legs Rule of Symbolism Spiritual Successor Mr. Fanservice Action Prologue Straight Gay Historical Hero Upgrade Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Adapted Out Would Hit a Girl Big Eater This Is Gonna Suck Celebrity Paradox Cool Shades Romantic Comedy Crucified Hero Shot Police Brutality Death by Sex Self-Deprecation Cowboy Cop Bond One-Liner Determinator aka: The Determinator Stealth Pun Historical Villain Upgrade The Ditz Fatal Flaw Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Heel Realization An Arm and a Leg Vomit Discretion Shot Bait-and-Switch Genre Throwback Covers Always Lie Manipulative Bastard Author Avatar Hate Sink Fanservice Extra Early-Bird Cameo Outrun the Fireball Kill It with Fire Disney Death Adaptational Villainy Obviously Evil Failed a Spot Check Eureka Moment Sports Stories Training Montage Fish out of Water Redshirt Army Only One Name Rewatch Bonus Antagonist Title Artistic License – Geography Rated M for Manly Trailers Always Spoil Curb-Stomp Battle Super Strength Madness Mantra Action Survivor Toplessness from the Back O.O.C. Is Serious Business Taking the Bullet Word of God Epic Movie The Starscream Faux Affably Evil Hell Is That Noise Demonic Possession The Faceless Cassandra Truth Our Vampires Are Different Hong Kong Films Framing Device Science Fiction Films Artistic License – Military Arranged Marriage Psychopathic Manchild Bad Boss Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Creepy Child Ripped from the Headlines Anyone Can Die Boom, Headshot! Danny Peary Cult Movies List Public Domain Feature Films Black Best Friend Age Lift German Films Historical In-Joke Dull Surprise My Greatest Failure The Remake Historical-Domain Character The Un-Reveal Dogged Nice Guy Evil Brit Mythology Gag He Knows Too Much The Atoner Last-Name Basis Fun with Acronyms Retirony Malevolent Masked Men Drugs Are Bad Chekhov's Gun Fantasy Films Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Mr. Exposition Bloodless Carnage It's All About Me What Happened to the Mouse? Domestic Abuse The Quiet One Dropped a Bridge on Him Defrosting Ice Queen Darkest Hour Meaningful Background Event Unresolved Sexual Tension Room Full of Crazy My God, What Have I Done? Meaningful Name Red Herring Spiteful Spit Expository Hairstyle Change Adaptation Distillation Romantic False Lead Up to Eleven Animated Credits Opening Fan Disservice Show Within a Show Not Even Bothering with the Accent Dark Action Girl A Father to His Men All Just a Dream All There in the Script Not What It Looks Like Ominous Latin Chanting Missing Mom Manic Pixie Dream Girl Genre Savvy Loads and Loads of Characters Villainous Breakdown Visual Pun Mama Bear Unwitting Instigator of Doom Jitter Cam Idiot Ball Well-Intentioned Extremist Lampshade Hanging Credits Gag Ascended Extra Creator Cameo Leitmotif Badass in a Nice Suit Brutal Honesty Adults Are Useless Sole Survivor Zombie Stories Undying Loyalty The Reveal Peek-a-Boo Corpse Unusual Euphemism Cat Scare The Smurfette Principle True Companions Made of Explodium The Mole Book-Ends Freudian Excuse The Voiceless Enemy Mine Brother–Sister Incest Breaking the Fourth Wall Eldritch Abomination Easily Forgiven Insult Backfire I Need a Freaking Drink Male Gaze The Stoic Rape as Drama Knife Nut Title Drop Parental Incest Those Two Guys Love at First Sight Roaring Rampage of Revenge Gold Digger Becoming the Mask Woman Scorned British Films Offscreen Teleportation Hidden Depths Index of Film Westerns Did Not Get the Girl Action Girl Video Credits Deliberate Values Dissonance Hypocritical Humor The Casanova Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" Insistent Terminology Beware the Nice Ones Obstructive Bureaucrat Eiffel Tower Effect Adaptational Badass War Is Hell Early Installment Weirdness Token Minority Narrator Dying Moment of Awesome B-Movie Not So Stoic No-Sell The Bully Bullying a Dragon Love Triangle Death Glare Not Quite Dead Soundtrack Dissonance It Can Think Scenery Gorn Belligerent Sexual Tension Sir Swears-a-Lot Red Shirt Beard of Evil Shown Their Work As Long as It Sounds Foreign The '90s Woman in White All Girls Want Bad Boys Imagine Spot The X of Y '80s Hair Broken Bird Evil-Detecting Dog Those Wacky Nazis Advertised Extra Artistic License – Law Man on Fire Rule of Cool Conspicuous CG Artistic License – Biology Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Twist Ending Rousing Speech Decoy Protagonist Vampire Fiction Closed Circle Greater-Scope Villain Better to Die than Be Killed Character Development The Chessmaster Immune to Bullets Everyone Has Standards The Place Too Dumb to Live Overprotective Dad Improbable Aiming Skills Card-Carrying Villain "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Scare Chord Television Movie Index Pre-Mortem One-Liner Arch-Enemy Yandere Armor-Piercing Question The Stoner From Bad to Worse Only Sane Man Jerkass Has a Point Call-Forward Break the Haughty Tranquil Fury Horror Comedy Nice Hat Dumb Blonde Air-Vent Passageway Good Is Not Nice Adaptation Expansion Adult Fear Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor The Dog Bites Back Corrupt Corporate Executive The Mafia Heroes Want Redheads Revenge Bi the Way Obfuscating Stupidity Country Matters Shower Scene No Ending Christmas Movies Index Important Haircut Music Stories Grievous Bottley Harm Oh, Crap! Captain Obvious For Want of a Nail "Well Done, Son!" Guy Combat Pragmatist Anachronism Stew Establishing Character Moment Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Villain Protagonist Intergenerational Friendship "Awesome McCool" Name Does This Remind You of Anything? Five-Man Band Let's Get Dangerous! Double Entendre Spared by the Adaptation Manly Tears Big Applesauce Gorn An Aesop Jerk Jock Stylistic Suck Impaled with Extreme Prejudice Dual Wielding Kick the Son of a Bitch Mind Screw Running Gag Babies Ever After Extreme Doormat The Load Captain Ersatz Horror Films Epic Fail Chiaroscuro Wicked Cultured Properly Paranoid The Bad Guy Wins Monumental Damage Rasputinian Death Leave the Camera Running Killed Mid-Sentence Funny Background Event Animal Motifs The Ghost Film Noir Index Animal Title Index The Sociopath Despair Event Horizon Implacable Man Sequel Hook Suddenly SHOUTING! Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Biopic Loophole Abuse Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Crazy-Prepared The Cameo Hero of Another Story Anachronic Order Chekhov's Skill Handicapped Badass The Dragon Genre Shift Together in Death Punch-Clock Villain French Films Mad Scientist Arc Words Aluminum Christmas Trees Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Double-Meaning Title Black Comedy A Date with Rosie Palms Cain and Abel Flipping the Bird Actually Pretty Funny Distracted by the Sexy Your Head A-Splode The Lost Lenore Costume Porn Accidental Misnaming Butt-Monkey Once More, with Clarity! Depraved Bisexual Destination Defenestration Curse Cut Short Continuity Nod Victoria's Secret Compartment Daddy's Girl Batman Gambit Ms. Fanservice Precision F-Strike Shell-Shocked Veteran Lighter and Softer Martial Arts Movie Alpha Bitch Earn Your Happy Ending Naked People Are Funny Slashed Throat The '60s Vitriolic Best Buds Disguised in Drag Bilingual Bonus Amoral Attorney Silent Movie Crazy Jealous Guy Not So Different Serious Business Canon Foreigner In the Back Fingore Honor Before Reason Wham Line Accidental Murder Take That! Red Right Hand Pragmatic Villainy Mugging the Monster Scary Black Man Tap on the Head Setting Update For the Evulz Catapult Nightmare Gratuitous English Naïve Newcomer Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Evil Sounds Deep The Vamp Big Bad Chase Scene Pragmatic Adaptation Poor Communication Kills Pyrrhic Victory Retcon Translation Convention Bowdlerise Frame-Up Heroic Sacrifice Big Damn Heroes Needs Wiki Magic Love Catch-Phrase Blatant Lies Posthumous Character Spell My Name with an "S" Offscreen Moment of Awesome As You Know The Brute Artistic License – Gun Safety Friend to All Children Have a Gay Old Time Adaptational Heroism I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Dark and Troubled Past Motor Mouth Time Skip Superhero Big Fancy House Unspoken Plan Guarantee No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Hollywood Law Married to the Job Hooker with a Heart of Gold Does Not Like Shoes Vomit Indiscretion Shot Pimped-Out Dress Redemption Equals Death Bloody Hilarious Rich Bitch Film Noir Badass Longcoat Gone Horribly Right Femme Fatale Suspiciously Similar Substitute Sassy Black Woman Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Line-of-Sight Name Neck Lift The Film of the Book And Starring Papa Wolf Bury Your Gays Flashback Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Morality Pet Dressing as the Enemy Foil Camp Gay Race Against the Clock Pre-Asskicking One-Liner Make It Look Like an Accident Cool Old Lady Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Evil vs. Evil Recycled IN SPACE! Big Bad Duumvirate Casting Gag Bring My Brown Pants Alas, Poor Villain Developing Doomed Characters Ship Tease Vacation Films Improvised Weapon Small Name, Big Ego Mighty Whitey Jump Scare Car Fu Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Evil Plan